JW TOFTNESS
Translation|Vertaling

This series of still lifes uses translation as thematic lens through which to explore mediation, reality and artificiality, and the role visual culture plays in conditioning our perceptions. The images incorporate children’s toys as an analogue for the increasing use of abstracted imagery as a means of communication (emoji, bitmoji, video overlay filters, etc.). The toys also serve as lodestones for constructed images that engender mixed epistemology—variations and breakdowns in how we know the world. Black-and-white film photography helps to imbue a traditional sensibility that contrasts with the absurdity of the toys and the shabbiness of the materials used in each image. And the use of an analog beginning creates a circuit from physical and chemical to digital and computational.
Where still life has been a genre that at times showcases decadence and abundance, it also provides for philosophical reflection—a space for contemplation of physicality and the things we value.

Author
JW Toftness (b. 1984) focuses on human relationships with technology and on slippages between perceived and mediated realities. Toftness incorporates imagery from various nodes of visual culture, embedding in his works a critique of how image ecologies shape our experience. Based in Savannah, GA, he is a featured artist in "New South, Volume 2: Double Vision" (Atlanta Center for Photography, 2025). His work was recently exhibited in UnBound14! at Candela Books + Gallery in Richmond, VA, and in other group shows at: Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA; Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI; Oregon Contemporary, Portland, OR; and ATHICA, Athens, GA. His first solo exhibition will be at Cleo the Project Space in Savannah, December 2025.

Website
jamestoftness.com

Instagram
@jwtoftness

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